STRENGTH TRAINING

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Tube Rows

By RealJock Staff

This exercise provided courtesy of Mike Clausen, founder and co-owner of DIAKADI Body training gym, voted best personal training gym in San Francisco by CitySearch in 2006.

Benefits
Resistance tubes are a great alternative to the cable machine, because with tubes the resistance becomes greatest when the muscle is at its most flexed. For tube rows, keep your motion continuous and consistent even as the resistance increases.

Muscles Worked
Back (lats, traps, rhomboids)

Starting Position
Take one handle of a resistance tube in each hand, with the center point of the tube attached to a fixed point level with your waist. Be careful to attach the tube to something that will not move when you pull on it. Stand facing the point of attachment and extend your arms directly forward, with your palms down. Step back until there is significant tension through the tube (see Photo 1). If you do not have access to tubes, use a cable machine instead.

Exercise

From the starting position, begin to bend your elbows and pull them straight back as you simultaneously rotate your palms to face each other and scoop your pinkies back toward your body (see Photo 2 and 3).

Continue to bend your elbows and pull them back until they pass close to your rib cage and fold behind your back; your palms will be close to your chest, with your shoulder blades flexed together (see Photos 4 and 5).

Lower your arms back to the starting position, allowing your elbows to open as they come forward, and rotating your hands back over to be palms down (see Photos 6 and 7).

Move immediately into the next tube row, keeping a steady, fluid, and constant rhythm.

About Mike Clausen: Clausen is the founder and co-owner of DIAKADI Body training gym, which was voted best personal training gym in San Francisco by CitySearch in 2006. He has been actively involved in sports and weightlifting since high school, and continues to use that knowledge when training his clients. Clausen is both A.C.E. and N.A.S.M. certified and has been training clients professionally for six years. He enjoys making his clients stronger, both physically and mentally, giving them the tools to create an efficient body and to do things they thought were not possible.